Report: WI enjoy advantage on day 2

A double century from Shivnarine Chanderpaul and a century from Dinesh Ramdin coupled with a few early breakthroughs in the Bangladesh innings, put West Indies in control on day 2 of the first Test.

The first two sessions of the second day was all about West Indies and the pair of Chanderpaul and Ramdin. The duo patiently saw out the first session of play and concentrated on building a steady partnership in the middle. Bangladesh didn't help their cause either by putting in a rather listless performance with the ball. At the stroke of lunch, Chanderpaul had gone past the 150 run mark and had managed to establish a 200 run stand with Ramdin. Post lunch, the attitude seemed to be a little different, one that shifted from preservation to all out attack. Ramdin got to his century after 208 balls and finally decided to unleash a barrage of attacking strokes, bludgeoning deliveries all around the park. Chanderpaul too stepped on the gas and cruised through to a double century, registering his highest score in Tests that of an unbeaten 203. Shortly after that milestone was achieved, Darren Sammy decided to call his players back as West Indies declared at 527/4.

Bangladesh's bowling was rather forgetful and quite lifeless. Sohaq Gazi was the only one to show some promise, as he picked up three wickets, however, apart fro him and Shahdat Hossain, none of the Bangladeshi bowlers were able to take a single wicket. The batting provided some amount of life thankfully. The hosts opened with Tamim Iqbal and Junaid Siddique, however, they faced a set back quite early as Siddique perished while fending away a sharp bouncer straight to second slip. At 25/1 it looked as though Bangladesh might end up as no match for the men from the Caribbean. Iqbal had other plans though, as he took the attack to the opposition and tore through the bowling. The left handed opener took a liking to Tino Best's bowling and thwarted the pace bowler for four boundaries in a single over.

Shahriar Nafees partnered Iqbal quite well, as the duo played some exquisite drives and didn't fail to capitalize on any scoring opportunity. With things not going his way, Sammy opted to bring Sunil Narine into the attack in an attempt to break the partnership. incidentally, Nafees perished to his own fault as he tried to cut a rising delivery from Ravi Rampaul but only managed to edge it to the keeper and was forced to walk back to the pavilion for 31 off 27. The ploy of bowling Narine didn't quite pay off as Iqbal launched the spinner for a six to get to his half century off just 38 balls, clearly nothing like a Test innings. The hosts cruised through to the 100 run mark in just 13.4 overs, however, most of it was due to the efforts of Iqbal and the left hander didn't get much support through the innings. Eventually Iqbal tried to force the issue and fell to the bowling of Sammy for 72 and even though the opener would have been expected to carry on, one couldn't help but feel sorry for the lack of support at the other end.

Bangladesh ended the day on 164/3 with Naeem Islam and Shakib Al Hasan at the crease on 27 and 16 respectively. The visitors ended the second day with an upper hand over Bangladesh.